He was right, for reaching the tenement house in which Thomas lived, the two crooks hurried upstairs and into one of the rooms. Patsy had fairly followed them to the door unknown to them and seeing them safely in, he turned and went down the stairs into the street, saying to himself: “Now, what was it all about? I must lay by to get a chance to talk to Spike when they come out.” He made his way to a drinking place which he knew to be one of the haunts of Spike and Bally Morris, to wait for them. CHAPTER IX. A THIEF ROBS A THIEF. The result of the investigation of Chick within the barroom, and of Nick without the house, was to show that there were two entrances to the upper story. One was by the outside staircase at the rear, which had evidently been used by the four, and the other by a hallway, the door of which was on the avenue. Nick had tried and found that the door at the front of the house was locked and bolted on the other side. Chick had found that there was a door at the rear of the barroom which opened into this hall from which a flight of stairs ran up to the second floor. Chick joined Nick in the cross street near the rear door that led from the street into the barroom. They exchanged their information, and Nick said: “We will go into the barroom, Chick, and while there I will manage in some way to divert the attention of the barkeeper so that you can slip through that door into the hall and unbolt the front door. “Our plan shall be that I will enter from the rear and climb those outside stairs while you shall enter the front door, bolt it behind you and bolt the door leading into the barroom. Then going up the stairs from the front, we will take them front and rear.” Entering the saloon, it did not take Nick long to get the barkeeper so engrossed in conversation that Chick slipped through the door into the hall unseen, unbolted the front door, turning the key he found there so as to unlock it, and was back again in the barroom beside Nick before his absence had been noticed. Having tipped the wink to Nick that it was all arranged, the two passed out and separated at the door, after having agreed upon a signal that should inform each that they were in their proper places. Seizing a favorable opportunity when no one was looking, Nick passed the door in the fence and went to the rear of the outside staircase. He met with a temporary check. The staircase was closed at the bottom by a door bolted from within. Having no tools with him and seeing nothing by which he could open the door or force it, he took the chances of being heard and, placing his shoulder against the part where he thought the bolt was--that is to say, just above the lock--he gradually applied his strength until he forced it in. The door was not strong and, as a matter of fact, gave way quite easily under the pressure he could apply.